Mr. Christopher McCann:

In response to her first question, the 90 inquiries have been received since the launch of the legal service. The service was formed in March of last year and formally launched in July. As everyone will realise, that coincided with the onset of Covid. It is difficult to say whether those 90 inquiries are representative of the number of inquiries that would be received in normal times or reflect the fact that people's minds were on other things. The service we have available consists of one full-time solicitor, namely, me, and my managing solicitor, Ms Lucey, who probably has to help me more than she would like. We are incapable of coping with the demand on issues for which we can see, on an initial analysis, have a legal solution. The response to the Deputy's first question is that the 90 inquiries have been received since March of last year. However, we must also take into account that we formally launched and announced the service only in July.

In relation to the second question, it would be difficult for me to gainsay the findings of the expert group. This was a group of three members with a range of expertise which was specifically looking at why the 1998 Act was under-delivering on Traveller accommodation. Two particular recommendations in that report, which I mentioned, could lead to a significant obstacle being removed insofar as the delivery of Traveller accommodation is concerned. The first of those is to remove the mandate of local councillors when it comes to delivering Traveller-specific accommodation. As I mentioned, under the 1998 Act, councillors need to adopt a programme of accommodation with their plans for the five-year period. We have seen on more than one occasion councillors who voted in favour of a programme then refusing components of that programme. I cannot speak to their reasons for doing that but it seems to be a patent inconsistency and hard to reconcile with councillors' obligations under the 1998 Act.

The corollary of that is the need for another way to deliver Traveller accommodation. The recommendation of the expert group is that legislative provision should be made to allow a direct request for permission to An Bord Pleanála. Those two associated recommendations, to my mind, would remove a significant obstacle. I stress, however, that the expert report is comprehensive and looks at the issues from every angle. Our firm recommendation would be that every conclusion and recommendation of that report be implemented without delay.